“None of the injury problems we have are serious ones but, much as we would like to involved everyone, we don’t want to bring players back too soon and have them ruled out for longer,” said Thompson.

“Gobern, Gerrard and Ward are not a million miles away – we are talking days rather than weeks and weeks – so it’s better for them to stay with the physios rather than throwing them into a match situation.

“There is no hiding place out there on the pitch, so it’s always better for them to have a few more days to make sure they are absolutely right.

Thompson says he has been pleased with what he’s seen of Town’s squad so far.

“We have had some injury niggles but no serious ones, which is good, and we have worked well both here and in the training camp,” he said.

“The trip to Portugal was good to get the new players and new staff to know each other, we had those couple of games against Doncaster and Portimonense and it was really profitable to work on individuals and different units – so the whole thing was very good.”

Want to read, watch and hear more? You can download the FREE Examiner Apple App here, the FREE Examiner Android App here or you can view the paper as an e-edition on your Apple, Android or Kindle device by clicking here